Adrenaline surged through Drina. She did as Cal instructed, rolling to the floor. On all fours, she scurried to the kitchen and the small niche where his washer and dryer faced a solid wood door. On hooks nearby, she saw their heavy parkas where Cal had hung them earlier. Her shoes sat on the floor below.
She slipped them on and tied them tightly. As she slid her arms through the sleeves of her jacket, the door handle above her turned…once…twice. Holding her breath, she scooted into the corner, expecting bullets to pierce the wooden portal any moment. Nothing happened.
Crouching low, Cal came around the corner, gun in hand.
She grasped his arm. “There’s someone out there,” she whispered.
“I’m sure they have a guard at each door.” His voice was raspy and slightly out of breath. He handed her the backpack. “Zip up and put this on.”
She looked down as her zipper snagged. “If they have someone at every door, how are we going to get out?” She got it loose and pulled up just in time to see Cal’s grim features.
“I’m going to distract them.”
“How?”
“Don’t think about that. Just follow my instructions. When I say go, run to the back of the garage.”
“The back? Aren’t we going to the car?”
“My little car won’t make it on these roads. Those men didn’t drive up into my driveway. I would have heard their engines. You remember their big loud SUVs? They had to leave them on the main road.”
She nodded.
“The road is just beyond where we walked this morning. The little culvert where we saw the buck and doe? If you keep going maybe forty or fifty feet straight, you’ll see the road. Follow it until you find their cars.”
“Follow it? Aren’t you coming with me?” Her tone had risen above a whisper and he motioned her volume down with his hand.
“I’m coming, but I’m going to try to delay them. If we get separated, I don’t want to arrive at the car and have to double back for you.”
He leaned in close. “Keep your head down. Run as hard as you can and don’t look back. Got it?”
“Yes, but…”
“No questions, Drina. Just do as I say.”
She sealed her lips and nodded.
Cal edged to the corner and looked around the wall to the front door. Pulling something small and round out of his coat pocket, he pressed a button and rose slowly to his feet.
A red light flashed down the kitchen straight to the back wall of the laundry niche. Cal jerked back behind the corner, out of the beam’s way. But as soon as it disappeared, he stepped into the center of the opening and pulled back his arm, preparing to throw the small round object in his hand.
Just as he did, the electricity came on and the lights in the house flared to life, leaving Cal completely exposed. Several beams flashed down the hall.
Drina screamed and Cal’s arm shot forward. Gunshots shattered the big picture window just as Cal ducked around the corner. Drina heard the ping of something metal as the object Cal had thrown struck the front door and exploded.
Drina covered her ears and ducked. The whole house rocked and shook. Glasses and plates in the kitchen fell from the cabinets and shattered. The coffee machine flew past them, bouncing on the floor and landing against the back wall.
Drina stared at it in horror. But Cal was already on the move. He threw the lock on the door, shoved it open and peeked out. Frozen in shock, Drina watched him take aim and fire. The gunshot made a soft, funny sound. Then Cal grabbed her arm, pulling her to her feet.
“Go now. Run, Drina!”
With no time to think, she dashed across the pristine snow. The pure white landscape was so bright, she had no trouble seeing. Another explosion rocked the house and she looked over her shoulder to see the kitchen wall explode outward.
Thoughts flashed through her mind. Cal had a silencer and more ammunition hidden somewhere in his safe house.
A gas line had been hit. Or maybe sparked by broken electric lines.
Cal’s home was exploding. His record collection.
Drina’s breath came out in a sob. Just as she reached the garage, a motion detector light kicked on.
Electricity. The light would draw the men’s attention. She heard another sound behind her. Several muffled shots. Ignoring Cal’s warning, she glanced over her shoulder. Cal fired shots toward the front of the house.
She reached safety behind the garage, bent over to catch her breath and turned to look back. She saw a blur out of the corner of her eye, and Cal pushed her roughly forward.
“Run! Don’t stop till you reach the cars.”
Spurred on, Drina dashed away, this time not daring to pause for breath or look back. The cabin rested on a slight rise and she ran down the incline into the culvert, almost tripping. The snow slowed her down. At least a foot high, it was even deeper in the ravine. With each step, she had to lift her feet high to free them from the sucking, frozen white powder.
She trudged on but didn’t hear Cal following. Only more gunfire, muzzled and now followed by rapid shots from an automatic weapon. The men had found Cal and were firing back.
Drina’s breath came out in another sob. The freezing air burned her lungs and the sob ended in a cough. In the empty, white, death-like silence, every small sound echoed in the little ravine. Suddenly aware that her noises were carrying, especially above her, she looked up, tripped and fell face-first in the thigh-deep snow.
Ice filled her nose and mouth. Smothering, she struggled to turn over in the deep drift. Lying flat on her back, she gasped for air. Sharp, icy pain seared through her chest. Hot tears flowed down her frozen cheeks. She faced a dark, midnight sky, full of frosty diamond stars.
Where was Cal? Why wasn’t he following her?
More shots pierced the air. Cal’s words came back to her. Run and don’t look back. I don’t want to have to double back for you.
What if he took another route to the road? Maybe he was already headed for the car with those men close behind. Waiting for her could put him in more danger.
That thought spurred her to move. Rolling to her side, she pushed up from the drift, stumbled to her feet and slugged forward.
Nothing looked familiar. She didn’t remember going this far on their walk. Had she missed something? Was she walking farther away, lost in the woods?
Beyond the white walls of the culvert, everything seemed swallowed in darkness. In fact, everything was silent. She no longer heard shots from the cabin. Was Cal hurt, wounded and bleeding? Was he dead?
Drina ran, panting and kicking the snow as she staggered forward. Up ahead, the culvert curved. Bushes hung over the edge. Flattened by the weight of the snow, they looked different, but they were definitely where the buck and doe had hidden.
Her thighs burning, Drina climbed out of the culvert. At the top, she paused and looked around. Cal said forty or fifty feet more. How could she measure forty or fifty feet in this vast white sameness?
Straight forward. Just go straight forward.
She picked a tree about the right distance away. It had a distinctive knoll she couldn’t mistake or lose and she lunged straight for it, finding speed now that the deeper drifts didn’t slow her. The total silence behind spurred her on.
Please, Lord. Please let me find the car and let Cal be waiting for me.
Suddenly, she stumbled into a clearing and halted. Looking down, she saw a wide strip with black asphalt below tire tracks. The clearing was the road!
Her gaze jerked back and forth along the road. To her left, three black SUVs were parked in the middle of the road. A man stood near the front of the lead car. Drina’s heart leaped. Cal!
The man stepped away and hurried toward her. She started to run also, but her eyelashes were full of frost and her eyes stung. Her vision blurred with pooled tears.
Something wasn’t right. She wiped a hand furiously across her face, then stopped abruptly, sliding on the iced-over asphalt.
The man wasn’t Cal.
He raised the gun in his hand, taking careful aim. Drina caught her breath.
From the trees beside the guard, a dark blur dived at him. The man didn’t have time to fire or even turn. Cal was on him before he could change direction. They fell to the ground and slid across the road. The man’s gun flew from his grasp and into the ditch.
Cal landed on top. Still holding his gun, he struggled to get to his feet but his footing slipped out from beneath him and he fell heavily to the side.
The man pushed upward, rising above Cal, but his feet slid, too. Powerless to stop his forward momentum, the guard fell forward, arms outstretched to stop his fall. As he came down, Cal rolled toward him, swung and struck the man’s chin with the butt of his gun. The guard fell flat and didn’t move.
Cal rose, carefully placing his feet. Drina ran forward and almost bowled him over as she threw her arms around him.
Prying her loose, he pulled her toward the car. “We have to hurry.”
As they reached the closest vehicle, he opened the door, grabbed the keys out of the ignition and tossed them into the dark woods. He did the same with the next. When they reached the last car, he pushed her toward the passenger side. Drina had just opened the door when another explosion rocked the forest. Flames jumped above the treetops.
“Oh, Cal. Your home.”
She looked at him through the open doors. His features settled into something hard and grim. “Get in.”
He slid in without another word. With one last glance back, Drina climbed inside. Cal put the vehicle in gear and eased the car around, careful to avoid the ditches on both sides.
Drina held her breath as the big vehicle slipped on the ice and slid precariously close to the edge. Cal eased to a stop and shifted to four-wheel drive. As the gears kicked in, he pressed on the accelerator. To Drina’s relief, the wheels caught and moved down the road, crunching icy snow beneath them.
Drina released a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. She closed her eyes and leaned back. Something on the dash began to beep and she jerked up to see the seat belt symbol.
“Buckle up.” Cal didn’t take his gaze off the road.
The incongruity struck Drina and she laughed, giving in to sudden, overwhelming relief, but Cal’s harsh features never eased. Her own smile faded in the face of his bleak expression.
Wet and cold, she shivered and reached for the heater controls. She had to search for them on a dash full of electronic equipment. She didn’t recognize any of the symbols. At last she found one she thought was the heater and gave it a tentative punch. Hot air flowed out of the vents and Drina raised her hands, turning them over in the warmth.
“Take your coat off so your clothes have a chance to dry.”
Thankful for something to do, she pulled the backpack off her shoulders and unzipped. By the time she’d thrown them both in the back seat, her fingers were beginning to tingle with the heat.
As Cal turned onto a main road, Drina rubbed at her prickling cheeks and hands. Cal’s white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel made her nervous. Maybe she needed to keep her coat and computer closer.
“Where are we going?”
“Back to the base as fast as we can go.”
“I thought you said it wasn’t safe.”
“My house is…was a safe house. Most safe houses have a beacon that sends a signal to headquarters. Now that it’s been destroyed, the beacon will cease. My handlers will immediately send extraction teams to preapproved meeting points. At this time the safest one is on the base.”
Drina studied his face in the shadows. She saw nothing familiar in the harsh features that hours ago had seemed so dear.
“Does that mean… Cal, did you set off the second explosion? Did you destroy your own house?”
“Yes.” His lips sealed into a hard, thin line.
“I’m so sorry…”
“Don’t feel bad for me. I deserved to lose my home.”
She caught her breath. “I…I don’t understand.”
They reached the main road. This larger thoroughfare had already been plowed. He turned onto the smooth, wide street and sped up but he didn’t release his grip on the wheel.
“The simple truth is you could—should—have been on your way to another safe location. My house would have been empty when they arrived. But I asked my handler to hold off, so I could find a way to salvage my work.”
It took a long moment before his words sank in. She shook her head. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t know. You thought your house was safe.” She paused. “How did they find us?”
“Because I wasn’t doing my job. They planted another tracker on you. Once I found the first, I should have checked, should have thought to look for more. But I was too busy feeling sorry for myself, and afterward I was too…distracted. Now we’re on the run again. I’m the one who should be apologizing.”
“Distracted. You mean by me?” Cal didn’t answer.
Whatever Drina meant to say next was silenced by a crackling radio on the dash. She jumped as the disembodied voice flowed through the car. “Philips? Do you copy?”
Cal turned up the volume and leaned in closer.
“Yeah. I’m here.”
“They got away. Stole Carter’s car.”
Cal leaned back, a smile flitting over his lips. Obviously, he derived some satisfaction in the fact that he’d chosen the car that belonged to Carter.
“We think they’re headed down the mountain. Set up a blockade at the highway. Stop them before they reach the main freeway.”
Another voice crackled. Drina recognized Carter’s. “Can the chatter, you idiots. Norwood’s got his own radio.”
The radio clicked loudly and the static ended in silence. Cal turned the dial off.
“Well, I guess that answers that. They must have had spare keys. Both vehicles are up and running. Now the two of them are close behind us.”
They came to the two-lane main street. Streetlights cast a yellow tint on the pristine snow, and muddy slush already filled the gutters. Instead of slowing, Cal sped up, though the speed limit was lower.
“Aren’t you worried about attracting attention?”
Cal shook his head. “At this point I’d be happy to see a policeman, but I’m sure they’re all assisting the outlying residents.”
They came to an intersection and he made a quick turn. The back end of the car slid across the road. Drina cried out and Cal eased off the gas.
“Sorry. It came up on me suddenly.”
“What do you mean it? Is there another route down off the mountain?”
Cal didn’t answer. This dark, intense Cal was a stranger.
He slowed, turned right and came to a full stop. A large yellow caution sign blocked the middle of the road. The words in bold, black letters read Closed. Do Not Pass.
Drina glanced at Cal as he accelerated and drove around the sign. The road had been plowed even though it was closed to traffic. A narrow ribbon of black, just wide enough for one car, stretched down into inky blackness.
Drina looked at Cal again. His shoulders tensed. He might not be willing to look at her but he seemed acutely aware of her every move…every concerned look she sent his way.
He tilted his head to the side, almost as if he was trying to ease a pain in his neck. “I think they sent plows from Bakersfield to help. They probably took this route since it’s shorter, but the road is steep and twisting. It’s too dangerous for the public. That’s why it’s blocked off. It follows the path of the Kern River down the mountain. It won’t be easygoing, but we don’t have a choice.”
Drina focused on the narrow ribbon of black road. Some of Cal’s grim attitude seeped into her. He was picking and choosing which of her questions he would answer. Was that because he didn’t want to tell her about the danger they were heading into?
If true, how many other things had he purposely not mentioned? As they sped down the steeply inclined, slick highway, Drina had to admit her confidence in Cal had been severely shaken.
They drove for a long, tense while before Cal bit off a soft, muttered sound.
“What? What’s wrong?” She glanced up to see his gaze fixed on the rearview mirror.
Before she could turn around to look, he said, “Drina, are you wearing the shoes I bought you?”
“Yes. My other shoes are…were in your cabin.”
“So the only thing that is yours originally is your computer?”
She nodded. He glanced her way, his features harsh. “Pull out your computer.”
The tracking device. He thought the device might still be on her. Realization spurred her to flip off the seat belt and reach behind her seat. Pulling out her computer, she let the backpack he’d purchased for her at the sporting goods store slip to the floorboard. She tugged the pliant case off the laptop and looked it over. Nothing.
“I don’t see anything. What am I looking for?”
“It’ll be small, like a round battery but black. Check again.”
She switched on the map light and conducted another quick visual examination of the computer’s hard exterior. Nothing seemed unusual until she flipped it over and noticed one round foot was larger than the other three. Attached to one of the black feet was a larger black circle. Using her fingernail, she pried the tab loose and held it in her palm.
She stared at the object like it was a black widow crawling across her hand. Then she punched the window button. Frigid air blasted in.
“Wait! Don’t throw it out. We can use it.”
Her lips parted in surprise. “Are you crazy? How can we use it?”
“Trust me.”
She halted. “I’m not sure I should.”
For the first time he took his gaze off the road and glanced at her. Lights from the dash highlighted his frowning features. “All right. I deserved that. But it’s too late anyway. They’ve already found us. Look back.”
She turned. Above them on the side of the mountain she saw only darkness. Then twin beams of light flashed high above them as a car took the outside of a curve.
“Oh, no.”
“Watch closely. Are there two cars or just one?”
Twisting for a better position, she fixed her gaze on the mountain curves they’d just passed.
“Just one, but it’s gaining fast. What do we do now?”
“Get down off this mountain as quick as we can.”
“Or die trying?”
Cal exhaled. It sounded tight and slightly frustrated. She had more to say, but they took a sharp curve and the tail end of the SUV slid precariously close to the edge of the road. Her words were lost in a gasp.
Drina gripped the door handle and the console and didn’t breathe again until Cal eased out of the turn, away from the steep drop-off leading to the frozen river below. He tapped the brakes to slow down. Drina looked back. The lights of the car following them seemed even closer. She wanted Cal to speed up but another switchback curve loomed in front of them.
Cal slowed even more. Drina cringed as headlights flashed through their vehicle. The car was right behind them. An engine revved, bringing the other SUV closer still.
Drina turned to face the front. If they were going to be hit, she wanted to see what was ahead of her. She gripped the handle again.
Cal deftly turned into the curve, narrowly avoiding the other driver’s attempt to ram the back end of their vehicle. The tail end slid…and slid until Drina was sure they were headed over the edge backward.
Finally, the back wheels caught. Traction pulled them forward and they shot down the hill with the other car close behind. Cal sped up. Another curve loomed ahead.
“Slow down, Cal! We’ll never make it!”
* * *
Cal pumped the brakes, slowing the car and coming almost to a stop with the front end pointed toward the edge. He eased forward until the vehicle’s nose bumped the guardrail. With his gaze locked on the rearview mirror, he spun the wheel in the opposite direction, away from the drop-off.
Drina turned in her seat.
Trying to ignore her white-knuckle grip and pale features, Cal focused on his task and gave the car a little gas. The wheels caught and moved, nudging the guardrail again and bouncing back…just enough. He hoped it appeared as if they’d slid into the rail and were stuck.
His foot hovered over the gas pedal, ready to gun it. The other SUV came around the curve fast. Seeing them at the side of the road, the driver revved his engine, prepared to ram the tail end of their car and send them over the embankment.
With the SUV headed straight for them, Cal hit the accelerator. Their vehicle jumped forward, toward the side of the mountain, away from the drop-off.
The car behind nicked their corner fender and crashed into the guardrail. Their SUV spun around on the slick road. Drina screamed. Cal rotated the wheel in the direction of the spin. The car swung around once…twice…then slid to a stop against the side of the mountain.
Cal looked over his shoulder. Red taillights disappeared off the side of the road, plunging down the steep drop-off.
He released his breath. His shoulders sagged and for a long moment he leaned against the steering wheel. Then he shifted into Reverse and tried to back out of the ditch. The tires spun, but finally caught, and the car reversed. As they backed up, their headlights flashed on the tire tracks left by the other car.
“Do you think they’re dead?”
Cal couldn’t spare a glance for Drina. He threw the car into forward gear. “We’re not stopping to look.”
The four-wheel drive kicked in and they headed down the mountain at a brisk but safe speed.
As they took more curves, Drina continued to look over her shoulder. Finally, she turned back around.
“I think they’re alive. I saw lights and movement halfway down the mountain.”
Cal shrugged. “That means they’ll be coming after us again.”
Drina shook her head with a sharp, abrupt movement.
Cal gritted his teeth. “Would you rather I stopped to help the men trying to kill us?”
“No. Of course not. It’s just—you seem so…different. So cold.”
“This is how I should have been from the beginning. Cold. Impersonal. Professional. Maybe if I had been, I wouldn’t have made so many mistakes.”
From the corner of his eye, he saw her shake her head again. “I don’t think a professional would have sacrificed the security of the nation for one little life. Maybe you regret saving me, too.”
He jerked his gaze from the road to look at her. “No. Not ever. That was the only thing I did right.”
Apparently, she had no quick comeback for his sincere comment. She leaned back on the headrest and closed her eyes. Glad for a reprieve from her caustic remarks, Cal focused on the road, and silence reigned within the car. At long last, the mountain curves eased into a straightaway and he was able to speed up.
Drina lifted her head. “Is that a freeway ahead? Are we off the mountain?”
“Yes, it’s a main road, a highway. But we’re still in the mountains.”
Now that they’d left the twists and turns behind, Cal sped toward the highway on-ramp. He slowed to read the signs, then accelerated the way he wanted to go.
Drina glanced his way once…twice. “The sign says the base is the other way.”
“I know. This direction leads to Los Angeles and the CIA’s main regional office.”
“So we’re not going to meet your extraction team?”
He nodded. “We are. But I want Carter and his men to think we’re headed to safety in Los Angeles. I’m hoping they won’t expect us to double back.”
He drove in silence a while longer before they came to an off-ramp. Pulling off to the side, he hit a button and rolled down the window. “Still have that tracker?”
Drina opened her hand. “I’ve been holding it so tight, it’ll probably be imprinted on my palm forever.”
“Throw it out there.” Cal nudged his chin in the direction of a white, snow-covered field.
Sticking her arm outside the window, Drina flicked her wrist and sent the tracker spinning. It disappeared into the darkness.
Cal pulled back onto the road, crossed the overpass and pulled onto the highway headed back the way they’d come. “Now…if they’re not waiting for us, we’ll be free and clear.”
“What do you mean waiting?”
“This highway joins the main freeway at the base of this pass. They know we have to come down one side or the other. I hope they follow the tracker to this side…and won’t leave someone watching for us at the crossroad at the other side.”
“What do you think they’ll do?”
He shook his head and glanced in her direction. “If it were me, I’d send people to watch both intersections. But they’re short one car. Maybe that’ll be our saving grace.”
The lights of the dash illuminated her full lips and he watched them thin into a hard line.
“Carter and his men already called ahead to have their cronies set up the road blocks. Don’t you think they’ll have someone watching the Los Angeles connection? That’ll leave Carter and friends free to wait for us where we’re going.”
“We just took the shortest route and made great time. I’m pretty sure we’ll beat all of them to the crossroad.”
“Well, at least you’re covering the bases…now.”
The tacked on now ground into Cal’s senses. Obviously, she was not happy with his revelations about his multiple mistakes. Truthfully, she couldn’t be angrier with him than he was with himself.
Gripping the wheel, he clenched his teeth. He deserved to lose his home and everything in it. He should have checked all of her gear, back at the Red Rock tollbooth. He should have realized Carter was smart enough to track the money and the possibility of an escape attempt on his part. But when Cal saw Drina on the shack floor with Whitson’s gun pointed at her, something had changed. A switch had flipped. Suddenly, all that mattered was getting her away, out of harm’s path.
Cal gripped the steering wheel. Those feelings had only intensified. He’d held her when she sobbed, and laughed when she came back at him with fast quips. He admired her convictions and felt pain when she discussed the loss of her boyfriend. She confused him. Muddled his thinking. Made him yearn for something he wished he’d never lost.
He’d forgotten his duty and nearly got them both killed. Determined to stay awake, he’d even made it through most of the night. But then he’d dozed. Another mistake.
Something had alerted him, maybe the sudden silence of the storm ending.
It was only by God’s good grace that they were still alive. The Lord had seen fit to give Cal a second chance. He had no intention of blowing it this time.
They drove the rest of the way through the foothills in silence. The signs of the storm quickly faded. Cal knew from experience that even though the snow had disappeared, the desert’s winter nights would be frigid.
They topped a crest. The small town of Tehachapi rested in the corner of the quiet valley, lit by a few lights.
“It looks like a scene from a Christmas card. I wish we could crawl right into it.” Drina’s wistful tone cut into Cal, deepening his guilt. He accelerated on the straightaway, determined to get her to safety.
The vast, empty stretches of desert appeared in the distance as they rounded a corner. “And then we drive into that, a deep, bottomless black pool.”
Drina’s words felt like a finger poked into an open wound. Clenching his fingers around the wheel, he said, “Drina, I’d give my own life for you to be safe right now. I’ll do whatever it takes to see that happen.”
She gave a slow shake of her head. “The problem is, Cal, everything you can do might not be enough.”
Cal flinched at her lack of confidence. As if to punctuate the biting remark, a red light on the dash flashed and began to beep.